Journey to the center of Equestria

by Rarity Belle

Chapter XCVIII

The four beings managed to hold the hug around Twilight for as long as it was needed. None of them would have even dared to let go of her until she had calmed down again. The love and warmth that the soothsayer was receiving from her family and her friend must certainly have done the trick in order to keep everything intact inside of her mind.

At least that happened to the be one thing that they were all waiting and hoping for. Nopony was certain just how much time it would have taken to get to that level, but not none of them actually cared about it. All that they wanted within that very moment was for Twilight to just return to her normal state of being. For her to return to the mare that they knew her as.

And Twilight did return the hug to them all. She hugged her brother just so tight. There wouldn’t have been any words within the realm of the universe that could have explained how she felt within the moment. The soothsayer couldn’t speak her words anymore. She was just at a genuine loss for them all but that never stopped her.

They all felt that the feelings were appreciated and that was more than enough for all of the members within the hug. Just the fact that the mind of the mare was calming down was enough for them all to know that she was changing.

Changes could always have gone two ways of course. They either would have been for the worse or for the better. In the case of Twilight it happened to be the latter one. She seemed to be truly calming down with her rampaging mind. The soothsayer didn’t spoke words while the tears appeared to be getting less within her very eyes.

The beings around her just maintained in silence as well. Yet even among the silence could the calm talking be caught within careful ears. Their very heartbeats were speaking. All of their heartbeats were talking to Twilight in one way or the other. They all whispered words of great power and courage that the mare had shown, even if they didn’t knew what she had done yet.

That would have been a tale that she needed to explain to her parents soon afterwards though. For even though they didn’t really show it, they were genuinely curious about the travels of their daughter. All of them had their eyes closed and allowed the events to happen as however they were planned to happen.

None of them knew how much time had passed by that point, but they knew that it was time well spent. The sun has been travelling over the skies even further when the unicorn finally gave them the all-clear signal. Four deep sighs of relief were released before the hug was broken with some great care in it. Twilight was still fragile and shaking on her legs.

Once again it seemed as if there had to be said goodbye to the beings that broke the hug. It didn’t felt good in the mind of Twilight but she didn’t try to show it. The unicorn wiped the tears away from her eyes before she shook her head a little bit.

Her father knew what to do and he charged up his own horn. What was conjured up into existence was a glass of water for his daughter to drink out. Pinkie took a little bit of distance from the family and just looked over to the four of them with two careful eyes.

One happy, little family stood before her. A family that would have supported one another through the thickest of times and the greatest of difficulties. Not to mention the little fact that they all happened to be unicorns. The fact struck Pinkie actually as curious. She hadn’t expected to see such a thing but couldn’t help but to giggle lightly at it.

Twilight took the glass out of her father’s magical aura and brought it over to her lips with trembling hands. The mare tried to take a sip or two as her red eyes first looked to Shining Armor. He gave her a calm nod before he nudged his head behind her. The mulberry skinned unicorn nodded with her own head in response.

She had to face perhaps the hardest sight of them all. The sight of her parents, right after she had returned from her journey.

The liquids in her mouth were swallowed whole before she allowed her own horn to be coated within the raspberry aura. The glass was picked up and brought out of her hand and levitated over to the desk on the side. There it just would have been placed before the aura around it had disappeared again. A gentle exhale went through her nostrils in silence as time seemed there.

Shining Armor saw the sheer amount of difficulty that was going through the unicorn her eyes. There was that feeling of utter discomfort that surged through her entire being. He sensed that she couldn’t have just turned herself around to face her parents. To him it almost looked like that if she turned around, she would see two faces she never wanted to see within her life. Though the very thing where she happened to be afraid of remained a mystery.

Even though he knew his own sister just so well, there still would have been times where even he would be wrapped up in mystery around her. The stallion allowed a bit of a louder exhale to be leaving his own nostrils before he nudged his head again. The time was up for the unicorn. She had to turn around and face the unbelievable sight behind her.

Twilight knew that fact very well. She knew that fact perhaps better than anypony else in the moment. There wouldn’t have been any walking away from anything in that moment. One turn would have been enough to settle everything that needed to be done. One turn would have been enough for her. One turn to either make it the best day of her life, or the worst.

The unicorn allowed the lids of her eyes to be closed. She couldn’t do it, yet at the same time she felt like she could carry the world. There was a massive mix of emotions going through her while the only thing possible was done. Whether Twilight realized it or not, her body was gently turning.

She turned further and further until the closed eyes were aimed at both of her parents. The two elderly anthronies both looked to their daughter while her eyes opened up in a calm manner. Those of the soothsayer glanced at both of her parents with an expression unknown in the moment. While those of her parents glanced at the soothsayer with one of hope and a sense of pride. Words couldn’t have been appropriate within the matter. So the only words released by the youngest unicorn were three very simple ones.

“Hai mom, dad,” she spoke to the two of them. Of course they were among a series of the worst possible words that she possibly could have chosen within the moment. But they were at least better than nothing. Shining Armor seemed to have a great trouble to keep his cool as he tried his utmost best not to let a chuckle leave him.

The elderly mare was the first one to take a step forward and she placed a hand upon her daughter’s shoulder. A gentle smile formed itself over her lips before the words followed. “I think, you have a tale to tell against me and your father,” she spoke in a genuine and curious tone. There wasn’t any hint of anger within it to be found. There only was relief to be caught in her ears. Relief for the facts that Twilight was still alive and dared to turn around to face them.

Once again she couldn’t have escaped it, even if she would have liked it so much. Twilight was trapped inside of her very own room. She had to tell the adventure again in front of her parents that time. That always proved to have been a little bit more difficult than it was against her brother. He seemed to have been a little bit more okay with the things that she did around and in the castle.

Yet in the end did Twilight realize there was no escape left for her to use. She pointed the pair of them to her bed and took a seat. The soothsayer herself took place within the chair of her desk while Shining would have just leaned against it. The stallion crossed his arms over one another and allowed his eyes to fall shut. He was aware of the adventures that his younger sister had gone through, he only hoped that his parents could have accepted everything.

And there she went. Twilight’s lips began to tell the tale as she remembered it happening before her eyes. Everything was told against her parents, no detail was left out. There was one exception though, she did leave out certain details about the meetings that she had. Especially the parts where the flintlocks were placed before her.

Pinkie Pie on the other end had curled herself up on the mattress and actually appeared to have fallen asleep. The only time that she would have seen in motion again was if her name would have been called out. Only that was enough to get her attention out of the land of the dreams.

All while the sun continued to travel over the Equestrian skies did both of the parents understood the reasoning behind Twilight’s most recent breakdown. Neither of them had expected that she would have been set through so much in such little amount of time. It had managed to surprise them that Twilight took the chance to begin with. Neither of the parents knew if it was a smart decision, but they seemed to have succeeded upon the task that was given to them.

It was still a literal tough pill to swallow for the pair of them though. Neither of them even had the slightest of ideas about what Twilight had been doing during her trip all together. They knew it was something important, but they had never dared to think it would have been that important. They also understood the reason of why she was so silent about it all. All of the puzzle pieces that they had literally came together for her parents.

All of the blanks that they were having were filled in as the story continued even further. The unicorn soothsayer wouldn’t have been done by a long time. For the entire story that she had to tell, almost seemed to have been a novel written by a great author of their time. A tale of adventure and magical powers of long forgotten.

Eventually had Twilight closed her eyes before she spoke the final words that could be found in her mouth. “And that, is the whole tale of the adventure that we have been going through. It, it’s hard to say goodbye to them. A-And the way we did, didn’t seemed like a good one,” she spoke to them all moments before she shook her head. Twilight still couldn’t believe it that they left like that.

Her parents were still baffled about it all and couldn’t speak a single word. They had to think for a long and hard time to come before they would be able to reply with a series of words. So it was Shining Armor who placed both of his hands against the desk and opened his mouth. “You may find it a bad manner in which you have separated,” he spoke to his sister in a calm tone, “problem happens to be that nopony knows how to properly say goodbye in such a fashion, especially after such an adventure. You’ve been spending weeks together. Thrown together like that, separated like that. There’s nothing that can be said or done with that sis.”

Twilight nodded to his words. All of them did ring a major form of truth, but she still wasn’t comfortable with them. She had to get an actual closure upon the fact that they travelled together. Perhaps that was the thing that the mysterious final gift could have been. A little fact that she actually held as a secret from her parents and brother.

As she came to think of it, she didn’t even knew if Pinkie was aware of her words. Either way, there would have been a time and place for everything. Even for the mysterious final gift.

“I, I see what you mean, Shining, but it still just, hurts so much in my heart and soul,” returned Twilight to him before she turned her head into his direction. Their eyes met with one another just after the stallion had given off a nod. He could understand her words clearly of course.

“Perhaps you can throw a reunion of the company?” he suggested as just one of the many ideas of things that could have happened. It was a longshot perhaps, but one of the more reasonable things that could have been done in the matter.

The gears behind the mare’s eyes began to turn and twist as she actually thought about the words that he spoke. A reunion? There was something along the lines of what she could be doing. Perhaps she even would have been doing it. After all, they all would have many more tales to tell to one another.

“Twilight,” the voice of her father spoke after he rose up from the bed.

Twilight’s attention immediately shifted over to him as she replied quickly. “Yes, dad?”

What happened next couldn’t have been described with words. Instead would the aged stallion have left the bed for what it was and made his way over to his daughter. Only to take her in his arms and hold her close to him. Between the two of them there was a hug that happened while the unicorn hadn’t even asked for. But it was nice to say the least. It was nice to know that her father cared just as much about her as Shining Armor and her mother.

Twilight could feel the tears landing upon her shoulder the longer the hug was kept. None of the other anthronies in the room even dared to interrupt the peaceful and perhaps priceless moment. Not even Pinkie dared to make a single form of noise. One of her eyes was open to see what was going on but she didn’t move a single scale on her body.

Then there would have been the words spoken by the stallion. Words that came straight from his heart and should been more than enough to show Twilight a thing she never thought she would have seen from him. “I, I’m so proud on you, my daughter. I’m just, so, so, so proud on you,” he spoke to her in an honest and genuine glad tone.

Those little words alone were more than enough for the unicorn to tear up again. But that time it was in a good way. For years she had thought that her father had never accepted her for the way that she was. Yet there he was, crying upon her shoulder while they both held the hug firm. He had admitted there and then that he was proud on the things that she had done.

The unicorn almost seemed to have gotten in some sort of trance before the eyes felt shut again. Words nor deeds would have been spoken or done. The two of them just remained in the position that they were, holding the hug firmly. Both Shining Armor and her mother looked over the two of them with a warm smile going over their lips.

They both knew it was a massive moment in both of their lives and they didn’t wanted to have been the party crashers. No, the moment had to be broken by either Twilight or her father when the time was there. Though nopony knew when that would have been. Seconds, minutes, or possibly an hour? Everything was possible between the two of them. Yet none of them seemed to care about the matter of time.

“Dad,” the youngest unicorn spoke in a whisper, “I love you.”

More tears left the eyes of the aged stallion and travelled along the cheeks. He wanted to reply with words of his own but couldn’t find any. There must have been some he could have spoken though. “I, I love you too,” he managed to say. It wasn’t a difficulty in his voice of it being an actual difficulty to say. It was more along the ways that he couldn’t find the right words for it to say.

Both her mother and older brother knew that he meant his words well, that he even tried to find better words to use. In the moment those would have been the best ones to have used by him.

~~~~

In the late afternoon had everything managed to calm back down. All of it just returned back to normal as both her parents and older brother had to go back to their daily lives. It actually saddened Twilight to see them go again, but they all had shed too many tears as it were.

When they walked through the hallway kept the unicorn soothsayer staring at the three of them. One last wave was given to them all before they turned around the corner. There they had gone again, departed from her life just like that. Just like that was it only her and the lamia that remained within the room.

A gentle exhale was given off by the mare before she closed the door. It licked back in its lock and she looked over the things that laid upon her desk and through her room. She had returned back home, but at what cost?

Pinkie Pie rose gently up from her position and saw how Twilight had sunken into a deep state of thought. “Don’t you dare to break before me again,” the lamia spoke to the unicorn in a stern voice. The last thing that the lamia wanted was that she had to act as a whistleblower again.

A smile formed itself over the lips of the soothsayer before she shook her head. With one hand she wiped all of the tear strains and tears out of her eyes. “No Pinkie, I won’t break again. Not after all of this. All of this has been, mind-blowing, actually. In the good way of the word, mind you.”

“Okay,” the lamia replied before she curled back around herself. Their conversation had been silences as the unicorn walked forth. She still had to add the remaining pieces of information to her wall of earthquakes.

Minutes had passed while the sun was already setting itself behind the horizon. Twilight had managed to finish with adding all of the latest information about the tremors that had hit Equestria while they were gone. She looked at the map and still couldn’t find any decent pattern within it.

Just for one of the few times in her life did she just looked at it and couldn’t make a single thing out of it. It would have angered her a little bit more than it should have been doing. That was until she realized that everything that could have been done about it had been done. That little fact seemed to be calming her down again.

Her eyes went through the room and there she saw Pinkie laying vast asleep already. It surprised her just how much the lamia could have been sleeping in a day. But more thought she didn’t gave to the matter. Her mind needed to have some form of rest and the only way that could have been given to her was either through light sleep or a walk through the castle.

Given the fact that she didn’t happen to be tired yet, the decision had been easily made by her. The unicorn would have been off on a stroll through the castle. She gave a gentle nod to herself only to then make her way over to the door. No notes were given off by her to the lamia that time. For the creature would see it whenever she would have gotten back to the room.

~~~~

Twilight wandered through the reddish and orange-ish light lit hallways of the castle while the sun was still setting itself, making way for the night. She glanced through the windows from time to time and would have glanced up, to the red skies above. Everything combined did manage to calm her mind while the clouds were sailing almost harmonious through the skies like airships.

How much did she had missed such sights from the castle. Underneath the ground there was nothing but darkness to be seen of course. That just happened to be the thing where she wasn’t used to. Twilight was a surface dweller, she was naturally used to having high spaces to move in and do her business. Seeing the clouds again rolling through the air behind the glass actually made her happy that she was back up again.

Perhaps she didn’t felt lucky about the fact but she still saw them through glass. Yet that also meant that she was safe. She was safe within the walls of the castle. No amount of evil would have been able to get to her that way. Or so she silently hoped. Even though it all looked watertight, there still could have been gaps within the security system.

The head was given a quick shake before her eyes were set upon the hallway. Her attention needed to be focused on something else. And in the distance she noticed the three of them. One of her eyebrows rose up as the three beings remained standing there. They almost appeared to have been frozen solid on the fact that they saw the soothsayer again.

Thought the unicorn herself placed her hands behind her back and calmly made the way up to the three of them. They still didn’t move a single muscle within their bodies as the sheer bafflement was clearly readable upon their faces. The soothsayer had to force herself to give them all three a gentle smile before she stopped. The chance existed that they could have been able to help her. That they were able to get her mind away from so many things in the moment.

A chance was given to her and she took it with both of her hands. “Well, well, well, looks like milady Star, master Dolicho and master Sky, if I’m not mistaken. What a pleasant surprise to walk against the three of you here,” the mare said to them in a calm tone.

Wishful Star, Dolicho the zebra and Sky Comet all three looked like they had seen a ghost of yesterday. Their skin turned pale as snow for a couple of seconds when they saw Twilight Sparkle. None of them even wanted to speak a word against her, let alone knew the right ones. Just the sheer amount of surprise that they had gotten from seeing nopony else then Twilight again, shattered them and managed to shut them all up for the moment.

The mare of the group tried to crawl back to consciousness though. She began to stutter before her muscles began to move once more. She wanted to speak a couple of words but constantly kept falling over them. To which Twilight would gesture that she had to take her time with it all.

In the end there would have been the words that came out of the mouth of the mare. “We, we hadn’t, expected you to, be back here again. N-Not that that’s a bad thing of course, far from it actually,” said Wishful Star while at the same time she also pleaded herself free for some reason.

“Do I sense a tone of doubt, miss Star?” Twilight added. The soothsayer only wanted to make the situation even more difficult. Though just seeing the three students of her like that, caused something she hadn’t seen in a long time. There was a genuine smile that then came upon her face. Just the sheer reaction that they gave to her caused her to return fully back to her old self.

Or at least that was the way it appeared to be. Naturally didn’t the three of them had a clue about the things that had happened to the older unicorn. Which she gladly wanted to keep that way for the time being. She had told her story twice in two days, she had no real intention in making that a third time in two.

Dolicho and Sky Comet managed to regain their own muscles back as well and they both had to shake their head to the situation. They thought that they were dreaming, that the unicorn couldn’t have had returned yet from her journey. But she stood there, plain and simply. They were wide awake and not affected by any kind of spell to their knowledge.

“Impossible,” the zebra spoke up just before he made a bow to the soothsayer.

“Nothing is impossible, my dear Dolicho. Only highly unlikely,” the mare returned to him before she made a bow in return. The signs of respect to one another were given as they came back up at the same time. ”Now tell me though, where have the three of you been up to. And what have you been doing? I remember leaving this place with just the two of you, being the troublemakers.” Twilight’s finger pointed to both Wishful Star and Sky Comet who both gained a red blush.

“It’s a long story, miss,” replied Sky Comet to the best of his abilities. He still couldn’t fully grasp himself around the fact that their teacher had returned just like that. “But basically, we became friends with Dolicho and, have been inseparable ever since.”

Twilight nodded with her head as it carried her mind off of the things about her tale. Not to mention it also brought her mind back into the state of school. That always had been a great diversion for her to think about. She hadn’t thought about it on earlier occasion simply because there wouldn’t have been anything to remind her to.

“I see, I see. I just hope that Dolicho enjoys being your friend as well as you do. I also trust he showed you some of his own rituals and that you respect them?” Twilight asked further.

Those words wanted to make Wishful Star just jump up and argue against her. But it was the zebra who placed a hand upon her shoulder. “Naturally miss. They were even eager to learn about the Great Plains of the lands beyond the seas. Great respect given, is great respect received,” answered Dolicho in his regular, humble tone.

Twilight released another nod. The mare was pleased to hear that the zebra wasn’t alone in the class anymore. His loneliness made him a vulnerable target to bullies of course, or anypony that wanted to do him harm in general. “That certainly happens to be the truth, yes. Anything else that I need to be aware of? Any mischief you three have done while I was gone?”

There was no hiding it from Twilight. She could smell such things from a mile away and they all three just reeked of it. So the only thing that could be done was to just confess to her. All three of them admitted the fact that they had been guilty of some mischief. Just small little things that didn’t hurt anypony physically. Mentally on the other end, that was still another debatable all together.

Twilight released yet another nod with her head after they told her everything. They just didn’t leave a stone unturned about everything that had happened. Even about the substitute teacher they had gotten in her absence. Not to mention the progression within the arts. All three of them had learned new things and each went to the planes of the goddesses at least once in her absence.

“Seems to me like you all have been growing quite the bit. Heh, how long before you will be just spreading your wings and take off with all the knowledge passed unto you?” the soothsayer spoke to them before she gave a gentle shake with her head. It was just beautiful to see such a thing happening before her.

“Perhaps one day, perhaps never,” replied Dolicho in a gentle whisper to the soothsayer. The three anthronies couldn’t do anything else then to give him his right. For a soothsayer had always something new to learn no matter what. There was always something of interest that could be done. Always more knowledge to be gathered.

“Miss Sparkle, can, can I ask you something?” Wishful Star already asked. She knew what the first answer would have been and didn’t really care about that one. She wanted to know the second answer that would have gotten out of the unicorn.

“Outside of the question that you just asked?” Twilight replied before she gave her a calm smile. “Go right ahead.” It wasn’t the answer that even the soothsayer herself expected to give though. Perhaps some bits of the old captain’s manners had rubbed off on her?

Though the all clear was given to her, which meant that she could ask just about the second most important question that there was to her. She didn’t ask how the trip was, it wasn’t her place to ask such a thing. That one would have been revealed to her in time. Instead she asked something that was a lot more closer to her studies. “When, when do you think you’ll be able to return to class again? And teach us once more?”

That was a question that the unicorn hadn’t gotten before and it caught her by a genuine surprise. Of course had Twilight wanted to return back to the classes as quick as she could, but would such a thing have been possible? The desires to give a straight answer in a set number of days was jumping up and down her tongue.

But she just had to go with an answer that was a little bit more on the vague side. “As soon as I’m ready again I’ll be back before class. I can’t say when exactly that will be though. But I can say that it will be soon enough,” she then answered to them. Those words brightened the faces of the three students straight away.

The four of them had to say their goodbyes though. The hour had turned late and Twilight was having a string of appointments for the next day. Appointments of which she could have only hoped that those meant for would have come. So the four of them separated their ways once more. Twilight went further along her way as the three students just wandered off to who knew where.

~~~~

The following day were the skies a little bit more clouded. The clouds themselves even seemed to have turned to gray as a rainstorm could erupt at any given moment. Though the forecast wouldn’t have been rain of any kind. So the unicorn soothsayer sat in the courtyard of the castle. She had positioned herself upon a small bench and looked over everything that could be seen. Her eyes went calmly from left to right as she sat there like a true lady.

The invitations had been sent out to the mares and that was the day that they needed to be heeded. Everything was given within the little notes, everything that ranged from just the simplest of explanation though. Nothing was made clear to any of them.

In her ears did Twilight caught the metallic thumping already coming from the distance. Only one mare in the entire land had such a thing and the eyes looked into the general direction of it. Within them they caught an Applejack that was dressed in a rather formal, admiral’s gown. All of her naval attire was on while she closed in the distance between her and Twilight.

Only once she was close enough would she had spoken up her words. “Ah got yar note just in time, almost wanted to sail out with mah ship again. So tell me, what do ya need me for now?” Applejack asked moments before she placed her hands in her sides.

“You’ll see, you’ll see,” spoke Twilight to her in return. To the admiral it looked like that she knew more about the matter. In reality did they knew just as much about it all.